4.3.3.2.2.1 Alternative A: No Harvest (No Action) 



No change from the current situation would be expected if this 

 alternative were selected. The recent 776-acre Dirty Ike fire created 

 approximately 203 acres of black-backed woodpecker habitat through 

 stand replacement fire. Burned areas such as this tend to be used by 

 black-backed woodpeckers for 1 to 5 years post-fire, in response to 

 outbreaks of wood-boring beetles in the burned areas. Thus, there 

 would be low risk of direct or indirect effects to black-backed 

 woodpeckers as a result of the Alternative A: No Harvest (No Action). 



4.3.3.2.2.2 Cumulative Effects of Alternative A: No Harvest 

 (No Action) 



Cumulative effects would be associated with the Dirty Ike Road 

 project. The road project would construct 1.5 miles of new road in the 

 burned areas of this project area during the winter of 2003-2004. Such 

 road construction would permit motorized access within 0.25 mile of 

 black-backed woodpecker. As such, mitigations that would be 

 required of this project would require DNRC to minimize mechanized 

 activity within 0.25 mile of black-backed woodpecker habitat during 

 the period of Apnl 15 through July 1 (pursuant to ARM 36.1 1.438 

 (l)(a)). This mitigation would be expected to remain in effect until at 

 least 2009. Thus, there would be low risk of cumulative effects to 

 black-backed woodpeckers as a result of the Alternative A: No Harvest 

 (No Action). 



4.3.3.2.2.3 Alternative B: Harvest 



The proposed action would harvest 204 acres of fire-killed timber 

 within a project area that includes 330 acres that were affected by the 

 Dirty Ike fire in the summer of 2003. Within the proposed har\ est 

 units, an average of 9 trees per acre >9 inches dbh would be retained 

 (Fig. 4-3). All timber within a 46 acre patch of that burned in the SE 

 V4 of section 6 would be retained without entry for a minimum of 5 

 years for black-backed woodpeckers (pursuant to ARM 36.11.438 

 (l)(b)). Average stand dbh (from Stand Level Inventory database) for 

 the affected stands which comprise the deferment is 17 inches (range = 

 12 to 20 inches dbh), and the stands are generally well stocked (i.e.. 

 >707c crown density). Of the black-backed woodpecker deferred 

 stands, 39 acres experienced a mixed se\'erity bum, and the remaining 

 7 acres experienced a stand replacement bum. 



In addition to 46 acres of timber that would be deferred for the black- 

 backed woodpecker for a minimum of 5 years (without potential 

 harvest), there would be 80 acres of mixed severity bum temporarily 

 deferred. Within these 80 acres, salvage of insect-killed timber could 

 occur within the next 5 years (Fig. 6). These 46 acres are 

 characterized as having an average stand dbh of 12 inches (n = 14 



Dirty Ike Salvage Environmental Assessment 4-19 



